My Dear Cousin
by KelseyWhiteleaf
Summary: An Agni Kai. Zhao and Zuko. A fair fight, but an unfair ending. A girl saves Zuko's back. Who is Zuko's saviour? It is someone closer to him than he thinks in the first place. But...Who is she? R&R plz.


Dear readers,

Please review to this story. I don't get many reviews (actually I barely get any) and I seek ways to improve my writing. Reviewing doesn't take that long, so please do after reading. I hope you enjoy en that you will read the sequels that follow. ENJOY!

-xxx- KelseyWhiteleaf

**My dear cousin. **

Prince Zuko has been challenged by General Zhao. As they both get ready to fight each other with fire control, other people also heard about the fight. General Iroh, the uncle of prince Zuko and the brother of the fire lord is also there. Soldiers of both sides will be there. And of course a judge who will determine who will win. Even if that's not so hard because the challenge is to death.

Prince Zuko, 16 years old, and already banished from the fire nation. His home. Banished by his own father, the fire lord.

GONG!

The start signal of the fight. General Zhao with his temper, and prince Zuko with his pride. But also courage. Who will win? The fight is hot tempered. Zuko seems to be winning but Zhao comes back. In the end, Zuko gets Zhao down. Zuko stands before Zhao why he is lying on the ground. He points his fist at his head and shoots. Zhao, closing his eyes so he would not see the fire didn't feel burn. When he opened them again he saw a fire spot next to his head. Zuko had fired beside his head. He ended the battle without even saying a word. He turned and walked away. But then Zhao saw the chance for another attack. When he had already lost. He fired at Zuko's back...the fire raging towards him. But a fireball out of the sky drove the fire in the ground.

Around the battlefield there were walls. With 2 entrances. Just next to the entrance where General Iroh, Zuko and his soldiers were stood a girl. She was cloaked, hooded and had a piece of cloth before her nose and mouth. Her hand was upwards which meant that the fireball had to come from her. Zhao looked up and saw her standing there. The girl looked at him and said:

"Even the banished Prince Zuko has more honour than you, General Zhao!"

General Zhao was very pissed now. He started to fire fireballs at the girl. But none actually hit her. Just before the first fireball she jumped down from the wall and landed safely on the ground. Zhao in all his anger constantly fired fireballs. But the girl was to fast. Then he made a firewall around her. He started to laugh. She would probably panic right now. Between those fires...she would never get out. He was wrong. She didn't panic. In his laugh he didn't see that the girl just walked through the fire. Out of the ring. But general Iroh and prince Zuko did see it. And they were very impressed by her skills. Only now Zhao saw her standing there. He looked astonished. Without even a burn mark she had walked through the fire. And there she stood, just calm like the wind.

Zhao started a new wave of attacks. But again none hit her. The girl had noticed that she wouldn't get away now without a fight. So now she started a wave of attacks. This overwhelmed Zhao completely. The attacks were precise and strong. And don't forget hot. The fire was good under her control. A heated battle between them took place. Not a long one though. After a few minutes the girl decided it had been enough. With some difficult moves she created a dragon out of fire. A move which only the great fire masters/mistresses could do. It knocked Zhao right down on the floor. But also the girl had used a lot of her strength. She walked towards Zhao, a little difficult. Then she gave him something. You couldn't really see it from a distance but it looked like a letter. An official fire nation letter. Then she walked away. Out of the battle field. Everyone looked at her. Did that girl just do what they thought she did? Did she actually beat General Zhao with ease?

The entire battle the girl was cloaked and hooded. She didn't show a small glimpse of who she was. Prince Zuko and General Iroh had packed everything and went to their boat. General Zhao and his men also went to their boat. Zhao read the letter and left immediately.

On the boat of prince Zuko and General Iroh there was a conversation. Both were quite curious who that girl was. Prince Zuko decided that he and some of his men would go and find her in town. She shouldn't have gotten that far.

And he was right. The girl was still in town. The way of life she'd had for the last 2 months and the fight by which she used the fire dragon had gotten to her. She was exhausted. Barely any food and water was too much. Even for a girl as strong as her. Zuko had just found her, he saw her walking very slowly on the pier. She was still hooded and cloaked. He was about to walk to her when she collapsed. She fell hard on the ground. She still tried to stand up, but she couldn't make it. She fell again and fainted. Zuko ran towards her. He kneeled and turned her 'round. He only saw here eyes, which were closed. He picked her up, one arm under her back and the other under her knees. He would take her back to his boat. Where she would get some rest and hopefully wake up soon. Strangely he felt some compassion for her.

At the boat, Iroh was waiting for them. But he didn't expect her in his nephew's arms.

He said: "I thought we were just going to talk to her, not knock her out. What happened!"

"She collapsed on the streets when we found her. We had nothing to do with it. I decided we had to take her here so she could rest."

And Zuko walked in. Iroh was astonished. He hadn't seen his nephew like this very often. Zuko had laid the girl in a normal size bedroom. It was a room just like Zuko his own. But this room had a small window which let some light in.

Iroh took care of the girl. He had taken the cloak off, as the hood and the small cloth. He had placed her in a bed and gave her some water once in a while. She swallowed it. Zuko was working on his fire mastery skills on the deck of the ship. Because of the "mission" Zuko was on the ship had to leave. They had found a trace of the Avatar and they followed it. The ship found itself in the middle of a sea right now.

Only 3 hours after she'd fainted the girl woke up. When she opened her eyes she saw General Iroh. She startled.

"You?" She said.

He nodded.

"Where am I?" She said again. Then she saw her cloak lying on a chair. She felt around her head and by her mouth. No disguise anymore...she didn't had her cloak around her. She dropped her head.

"You know who I am, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. It's very good to see you again Pincess Ymee."

"Thank you, uncle Iroh. It's also very good to see you again. But where am I...and how did I get here?" Now looking at her uncle.

"Let's take a walk outside, alright? I will tell you."

The girl stood up and walked together with her uncle through the corridors. The girl was actually Princess Ymee. The daughter of the Fire Lord's sister. She was 15,5 years old. Most of the people from the fire nation had black hair. Or the more elder people grey. But not her. Her hair was blonde. She had bounded them in a ponytail, which was more convenient in battles. She was like 1.75 metres and she wore a red dress. Which had an obvious reason because she came from the fire nation. Her eyes were deep green. You could just fall in them and never get out. And her smile...well. What to say about that. She smiled a lot. Not a lot of people thought that she was a mighty fire mistress. She looked to young and besides, she was a girl.

Uncle Iroh explained that she was on the ship of his nephew. And that she fainted on the pier.

They got outside where they saw Zuko training with his soldiers. He turned and saw Ymee standing there. He walked towards his uncle and cousin and they started a small conversation. Like every person around 3 sentences. Then he left again and trained again.

"He never smiles or laughs..." Ymee said.

"What did you say?" Uncle Iroh asked and turned to Ymee.

"He never smiles or laughs..." Ymee said again.

"He is a Fire nation soldier. They never smile or laugh." Iroh's answer was.

"I've seen you smile and laugh, Uncle Iroh" She turned to Iroh and smiled.

"Yes...but he has been banished." Thinking of his answer to what Ymee said.

"That has nothing to do with it." Ymee dropped her head again.

"Yes, it has to do with it. Would you smile if you were banished from your homeland?"

"You saw me smile just now, didn't you?"

"What?"

"You heard me right..."

"What should it suppose to mean?"

Ymee didn't say anything. She looked at the sky and let her uncle figure it out himself.

"You...you can't be...you're banished?"

She nodded.

"But why? You were always the favourite..."

"...Of the Fire Lord? Yes. I was always the favourite of him. That was why he sent me to fire masters since I was very young. You should know this. You were still there. A year ago I finished my training. He gave me missions he found to important to leave to one of his generals. This time, he gave me 2. When I had finished the first, I had to begin the second immediately. Every mission, I was banished for a while, for I wasn't allowed to return before it had been done."

"Subtle. Just like him. But you only have to complete your mission. Then you can return again." Then he remembered the letter. "Then...your first mission was...to give General Zhao a letter?"

"Well, it wasn't really about the letter. It was about what was in the letter."

"What was in the letter then? If I'm not being to bold to ask."

"No, it's ok. The letter was an immediate order to return back. The Fire Lord hasn't been so happy with some of his actions lately. So he gave me the order to send him home. To receive punishment for some of his actions."

"And the second mission? What was that about?"

"The second mission I won't do. So there is no use of telling you this." She walked to the edge of the ship. Away from uncle Iroh. She was leaning on the edge, so she could see the sea they were on. But Iroh didn't leave it with that.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Besides that I can never go home again because My Lord gave me a mission I'm not going to accomplish...No, there is nothing."

"Let's talk about something else then. Where did you learn the Fire Dragon? I can't believe that they taught you that at your training."

"They didn't. When I was completing a mission someone just attacked me. When I defended myself I just did the Fire Dragon. Just out of nowhere. Nobody ever told me it existed or showed me the moves. I just did it. And from that moment I could do that move."

"Since only Fire masters/mistresses can do the Fire Dragon, I expect that you are..."

"A Fire mistress? Yes, I am. The Fire Lord made me one himself. It was an honour that he did that personally."

"It certainly has been an honour then."

They both looked at the sea and the sky. Ymee's legs just collapsed again. General Iroh helped her up. "It seems that you still have to strengthen. What happened to you to make you collapse the first time?"

"I was on that mission I told you about. But General Zhao was very hard to find. For 2 months I tried to find him. In these 2 months I didn't really ate and drank much. For I had to finish what I had started. That fight exhausted me and together with not eating and drinking became too much for me to handle. That is probably the reason why I fainted."

"I see. I hope that you weren't planning to do that on your next mission."

"I thought I told you I'm not going to do my next mission."

"You did...Did I actually start about that again...?"

"Yes, you did." Ymee started to laugh. "If you really want to know...I think...I...could tell you. My mission...my mission was to find the Avatar, catch him and bring him back to him."

"What! And why are you not proceeding with that then!"

"I..."

"With your strength it might even succeed! You could return to my brother and show him the Avatar. He would make you the ultimate fire mistress and let you do whatever you want. You could remove the banishment on Prince Zuko! Don't be foolish girl!"

Ymee dropped a tear. "Leave me alone..." She turned and walked away. Because she was still quite weak it didn't go so fast. A teardrop flew away and landed on the cheek of Iroh. He felt his cheek and felt the drop. While his niece was walking away to her chambers, he was just standing there and feeling his cheek. Prince Zuko walked towards his uncle, who was just standing there with his hand on his cheek.

"Why did you had to handle her so harsh..."

"I..."

"I like that girl. She astonished you so you stopped talking. I'll go talk to her."

Zuko turned and also walked towards Ymee her chambers. He left his uncle astonished behind. He knew to yell something to Zuko before he went inside.

"Don't ask her about her missions!" Zuko didn't even listen to what his uncle had yelled. He knocked on Ymee's door. But no-one answered.

"Ymee! It's me, Zuko!"

Still no answer.

"Ymee, can I come in?"

Silence... Zuko opened the door and saw her lying on her bed. She was sleeping. She had been crying, you could see that in her eyes. In stead of waking her up and ask what was going on he picked up the blanket and laid it over her. He turned and walked to the door. Before closing it he looked at Ymee. Then he closed the door and walked away.

The next morning Ymee woke up quite early. She didn't know how early but she could see the sun, very low above the horizon. She picked up her cloak, put it on and walked outside. No-one besides a few guards who were on duty was there. She walked to the bow of the ship. It was a beautiful view from there. Just enjoying the view, she was standing there. She didn't notice that behind her, Zuko came out. He saw her standing there and walked to her.

"It's good to see you well again, Princess Ymee." He said.

She suddenly turned around and was surprised to see Zuko standing there.

"It's alright. It's just me."

"I'm sorry prince Zuko. You startled me. I didn't see you coming."

It was quiet for a moment. It seemed that both didn't know what to say. At last Prince Zuko decided to say something.

"You know...that uncle Iroh didn't mean it like that."

"He meant exactly what he said." Ymee said. Turning again to not have to look at Zuko.

"Maybe." Zuko said. "But maybe not." He added and walked away. That last comment made Ymee look back at him. Did he try to comfort her after what happened yesterday? It could be possible, because everyone could have heard what they were saying. But it didn't really sound like him.

The day went on, and the weather was wonderful. At least till around 3.00 pm. The dark clouds were gathering and you could see and feel that there was a heavy storm coming. Which was quite strange because of the great weather 'till then. The storm was coming fast. The temperature was dropping fast and the wind was increasing. After about 5 minutes it started to pour rain. Everyone ran inside. Back in the cabin Zuko checked if everyone was inside. But they missed someone. They looked out the window through the rain and saw Ymee standing outside on the deck. It was really dark outside and the thunder clashed through the sky. Just before the ship a large figure appeared. For a strange reason it looked like Ymee expected the figure. For others it was just a black figure. But Ymee saw what it really was. It was a Water Dragon. But the reason why it was here was a blur. The dragon started talking to Ymee.

"Your friends are in need of help. I'll bring you to them."

"Aang!"

"Yes, now come."

Ymee turned. She saw Prince Zuko and her uncle standing there. They were inside.She waited for a second. Thinking it this really was the best choice. It was...She turned again and jumped on the dragon's head.

"Bring me to them! Hold on guys, I'm on my way!"

The Dragon lifted its head again and flew away. Into the black rainy clouds...


End file.
